Friends and Family

Anyone can enroll and contribute to a T. Rowe Price College Savings Plan account. Whether you’re a grandparent, family member, or friend, it’s a great way to save for a child’s education. You can open an account of your own or make a gift contribution to any child’s college savings plan account.

There are no limits on age, income, or state of residency. And you can invest any amount up to the account balance maximum of $475,000. The gift of education is the perfect present for every child’s future.

Set Your Sights on a Child’s Future Education

Contributing to a 529 college savings plan account can be one of the most valuable gifts anyone can give. The T. Rowe Price College Savings Plan lets you help with some, most, or all of a child’s higher education costs.

Whether you’re a member of the family or a friend, you can start a 529 college savings plan account for a child’s education even before he or she is born. We’ve made it easy to open an account in the parent’s name, and once the baby arrives, you can transfer the beneficiary. Although college may seem far away, opening a T. Rowe Price College Savings Plan account puts the power of time and earnings potential, on your side.

The Benefits of Saving for a Child’s Education

You can give more with a 529 “five-year election.”

Traditionally, the maximum amount you can gift in a year, without gift taxes, is $15,000. But with a 529 plan, you can front-load your contribution, allowing you to contribute up to $75,000 (or $150,000 for a married couple) into a 529 plan without paying extra gift taxes. You’ll give a gift that can help support their future higher education goals and aspirations. (Additional gifts you make to the same child during the five-year period may be subject to gift taxes. Speak with a knowledgeable tax professional for details.)

Our College Savings Plan is an excellent estate planning tool.

You can significantly reduce the value of your taxable estate by funding a 529 plan, since when you contribute to a child’s 529 plan account, the contributions and earnings are removed from your taxable estate and considered a gift to the child. However, you remain in control of the assets.

Our 529 plan is an excellent way to help a child save for college or K-12 tuition expenses.

Here’s how it works. You contribute to an account that you control on behalf of a specific beneficiary. Any growth is tax-deferred and you can withdraw the money tax-free—as long as it’s used to pay qualified higher education expenses at any eligible college, graduate, or vocational school. What's more, the assets can be used for tuition at K-12 public, private, or religious schools.

Our 529 plan gives you control of the assets—not the beneficiary—ensuring the money will be used for its intended education purpose.

As the account holder, you will be able to:

Make investment elections that you feel are best suited for helping your loved one achieve his or her higher education goals.

Adjust your contributions as needed based on financial needs.

Control when distributions are taken.

Determine if and when the beneficiary is ready to manage his or her account.

You can contribute as little or as regularly as your budget allows based on what life throws your way.

Here are just some of the advantages to our 529 plan:

Accounts are transferable to beneficiaries (the new beneficiary must be a member of the previous beneficiary’s family).

No time restrictions, so your beneficiary can use the savings anytime.

Contribute as little as $50 a month and increase or decrease
contributions whenever you want.

Make withdrawals for your beneficiary at any time. However, earnings are subject to tax and a 10% penalty if not used for qualified education expenses. Use the savings at nearly any college, university, or graduate school in the U.S., including vocational schools, as well as for tuition at K-12 public, private, or religious schools.

A passport to education from crawlers to scholars.

The Education Planning Center is an online tool that makes it easy to see if you're on track with your savings goals, and provides age-specific passports from birth to graduation, and information on financial aid, scholarships, and grants.

The T. Rowe Price College Savings Plan is offered by the Education Trust of Alaska.
You should compare this Plan with any 529 college savings plan offered by your home
state or your beneficiary's home state and consider, before investing, any state tax
or other state benefits, such as financial aid, scholarship funds, and protection from
creditors that are only available for investments in the home state's plan.
Please read the Plan's Disclosure Document
which includes investment objectives, risks, fees,charges and expenses, and other information
that you should consider carefully before investing. For other important legal information, please read the
Plan's Privacy Policy.
T. Rowe Price Investment Services, Inc., Distributor/Underwriter.

*Morningstar analysts reviewed 62 plans for its 2018 ratings (10/30/18), of which 4 plans received
a "Gold" rating and 9 plans received a "Silver" rating.
Morningstar analysts reviewed 62 plans for its 2017 ratings (10/24/17), of which 4 plans received
a "Gold" rating and 10 plans received a "Silver" rating. Morningstar analysts reviewed 63 plans for
its 2016 ratings (10/25/16) of which 3 plans received a "Gold" rating and 10 plans received a
"Silver" rating; and 63 plans for its 2015 ratings (10/2015) and 64 plans for its 2014 ratings
(10/21/14), 2013 ratings (10/22/13) and 2012 ratings (10/15/12), of which 4 plans received a "Gold"
rating. To determine a plan's rating, Morningstar's analysts considered 5 factors: the plan's
strategy and investment process; the plan's risk-adjusted performance; an assessment of the individuals
managing the plan's investment options; the stewardship practices of the plan's administration and
parent firm; and whether the plan's investment options are a good value proposition compared with
its peers. Plans were then assigned forward-looking ratings of "Gold," "Silver," "Bronze," "Neutral,"
and "Negative." Each year, certain of the industry's smallest plans are not rated. Morningstar
analysts reviewed 58 plans for its 2011 survey, of which 6 plans received a "Top" rating, and 52 plans
for its 2010 survey, of which 5 plans received a "Top" rating. Ratings for each plan were based on five
factors: the quality of the underlying investment options; performance of those options; the skill of
the managers of those options; the costs associated with each plan; and the stewardship practices of
each plan's program manager. Plans were then assigned ratings of "Top," "Above Average," "Average,"
"Below Average," and "Bottom." To earn a "Top" rating, a plan must be best-in-class across all five areas.

Analyst Ratings are subjective in nature and should not be used as the sole basis for investment
decisions. Analyst Ratings are based on Morningstar analysts' current expectations about future
events and, therefore, involve unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause Morningstar's
expectations not to occur or to differ significantly from what was expected. Morningstar does not
represent its Analyst Ratings to be guarantees.

The mutual funds referred to in this website are offered and sold only to persons residing in the United States and are offered by prospectus only. The prospectuses include investment objectives, risks, fees, expenses, and other information that you should read and consider carefully before investing.Download a prospectus.